Today we got to watch the Major League debut of Janson Junk, half of the return on the Andrew Heaney trade. We got to watch Heaney implode while he was a Yankee. Are they now going to LOL at us in return, or is Junk not junk? Well, let’s just say that this game was a lot more difficult to write up than yesterday’s game.
First Inning
Tavares- single to right. Kiner-Falefa reached on an infield hit. Adolis Garcia hit into a double play to end the Rangers half of the first inning.
David Fletcher grounded out to third. Shohei Ohtani almost reached on a grounder to first, but was tagged out by the first baseman, Lowe. Phil Gosselin reached on an infield hit. Then Phil Gosselin had the audacity to bunt for a base hit and met with success. Jo Adell also reached on an infield hit. Hey! This is working! Then Stassi made out to end the festivities.
Second Inning
DJ Peters hit a home run to welcome Junk to the big leagues. Jonah Heim hit an out to Rengifo for out number one. Nick Solak hit a fly to David Fletcher for the second out. Then Junk struck out Jason Martin to end the first half inning of the second.
Marsh grounded out. Lagares grounded out. Rengifo singled but Fletcher hit a fly ball out to render it all meaningless.
Third Inning
Yonny Hernandez grounded out for the first out. Leody Taveras lined out to Phil Gosselin. Kiner- Falefa reached on a line drive to Lagares in right. Two outs and a man on first. Junk proceeded to walk Adolis Garcia to put a second man on. Nathaniel Lowe batted next. Unfortunately, the ball bounced off Junk’s glove over to Rengifo who totally borked the throw. The result: a run scored and men were at first and third with two outs. DJ Peters homered again. 5-0 Texas. Jonah Heim bounced out to first, mercifully, to end the inning.
Shohei Ohtani struck out. Phil Gosselin hit a long fly to Tavares for the second out. Jack Mayfield hit one sharply to third for the third out.
Fourth Inning
Nick Solak grounded out to first. Jason Martin got struck out for the second time by Junk. Scouts everywhere are taking notes. Yonny Hernandez singled, whereupon Joe Maddon took his Junk out. I don’t know if the scouts are still taking notes. He brought in Jimmy Herget. What a game! Yonny Hernandez stole second base. Herget struck out Taveras to end the Rangers half of the Fourth Inning.
Next up, Jo Adell, who hit a homer on the first pitch he saw. 5-1 Texas. Max Stassi grounded out to third.. Brandon Marsh struck out. Juan Lagares lined out to left to douse the Angels hopes in the fourth.
Fifth Inning
Herget hit Kiner-Falefa in the back to put a man on first. Adolis Garcia grounded out to the shortstop advancing the runner to second. Nathaniel Lowe walked. Matt Wise went out to the mound at this point for a visit. DJ Peters came up and reached on an infield hit. Thus ended Herget’s day. Joe Maddon brought in Jake Petricka. Jonah Heim walked to drive in a run. 6-1 Texas. Nick Solak struck out. Jason Martin then struck out on three pitches.
Luis Rengifo lined out to right field. David Fletcher fouled out to Garcia. Shohei Ohtani struck out.
Sixth Inning
Yonny Hernandez singled to left and then stole second base. Leody Taveras struck out. Elvis Peguero came in to face Isiah Kiner-Falefa who got a base hit to make it 7-1. Adolis Garcia reached on a liner to left field. Nathaniel Lowe hit a ground out to Fletcher. The runners had to hold. DJ Peters hit a fly out to Marsh to end the Rangers half of the sixth inning.
Phil Gosselin was out on the first pitch he saw. Jack Mayfield doubled to bring up Jo Adell. A wild pitch advanced Mayfield to third base. Jo Adell hit a second homer for two runs. 7-3 Texas. Max Stassi lined out to center field. Brandon Marsh struck out to end the inning.
Seventh Inning
The Angels now bring in Kyle Tyler to pitch. The Angels set a record with him. The Angels never before brought in 61 players in a single season. 35 of those have been pitchers. Jonah Heim hit a fly ball to Adell for an out. Nick Solak grounded out to Fletcher. Jason Martin grounded out to Luis Rengifo.
Juan Lagares grounded out to first base. Luis Rengifo hit a fly ball out to Martin. David Fletcher hit a 1-3 bounce out to end the inning.
Eighth Inning
Yonny Hernandez grounded out to Fletcher. Leody Taveras struck out. Isiah Kiner-Falefa also struck out.
Shohei Ohtani walked. Phil Gosselin struck out. Jack Mayfield popped out to the first baseman. With Jo Adell at bat, Ohtani stole base number 23 for the season. Then Adell walked. Max Stassi struck out.
Ninth Inning
Adolis Garcia hit a fly out to Fletcher in the short outfield. Nathaniel Lowe hit a fly out to Jo Adell. DJ Peters hit a two out double to Marsh. Jonah Heim popped out to Jack Mayfield to bring up the Angels.
Brandon Marsh made out on a fly ball to left. Juan Lagares hit a fly ball out to center. Luis Rengifo singled to right to bring up David Fletcher. Rengifo took second base on defensive indifference. David Fletcher walked to bring up Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani struck out to end the game.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Other than Ohtani and Fletcher, our AAA players played the Rangers AAA players and lost. Yes the rookies gained “game” experience, and the loss helps our draft position….marginally. Kyle Tyler was the only rookie that really showed something unexpected.
Only 25 more games for Trout to miss
This just in: Mike Trout not expected to be ready for spring training 2022.
Just you wait
Trout’s career will defined as “before the calf injury” and “after”. It’s sad to think about this type of injury potentially messing him up long term.
This scenario is nightmarish. I certainly hope this is not on the horizon.
With recent Angles injury history I do understand people’s anxiety. And this off season Perry needs to do his research into sports medicine best practices and training regimens for injury prevention etc.. Hopefully we’ll see new people next year.
But let’s not overreact to the Trout situation. The truth is the team has an agenda to see the kids the rest of this year. Trout not coming back in the 2nd half is more about the team wanting to utilize this time to assess what we have rather than the longterm nature of his injury.
Jo Adell is now within .002 of brother Gump’s OPS ( .688 vs .690) It appears that Marsh is really struggling with left handers slashing only (.213/.234/.217) with 21 SO’s in 47 PA’s while Marshy’s hitting right handers pretty well (.277/.360/.436) and only 19 SO’s in 101 PA’s. This vast disparity is an issue that the Angels need to address if Marsh is going to be an everyday player next year
What do you think ohtani’s issue is? He’s striking out at a scary rate.
Personally, i’m chalking it up to exhaustion until someone presents an argument for something worse.
There’s a reason no one has done this before. It is incredibly taxing.
I think teams are pitching him differently, he’s trying too hard, and he’s a little tired. The team’s offense has regressed, Walsh especially, Ohtani doesn’t have much help/protection in the lineup
He is definitely not getting as good of pitches in the second half thanks to all the injuries. Why pitch to Sho when you can walk him and face Gosselin and Mayfield? No brainer lol.
Yes, agree with this. Zero protection. There is also the case where he was god-like with an incredible home run rate before the all star break. Our eyes and appetite got used to that. That is not his norm.
The other thing is that a high HR rate is almost always linked with a high strikeout rate. This is just the nature of the beast. I mean, Salvador Perez has 143 strikeouts which is not far behind Shohei.
HR Derby!
Ohtani was gassed then. Everyone else seemed to be ok but Ohtani looked like he was falling apart.
He was definitely gassed at the Derby.
Swinging the bat like that is a prescribed time limit, your arms get heaaaaaavy. Others get gassed too. Notice now they have time outs for hitters to regain arm strength.
Another thing is that Shohei does not take batting practice during the regular season, so he is not used to swinging in bunches like that. The fatigue for him would likely be more pronounced than for a player who is “used” to it, and one like Alonso who understands the Derby and how to optimize performance.
If Shohei goes back next year I think his performance will be much better.
that’s actually not true at all
https://twitter.com/JeffFletcherOCR/status/1413935527720460291
Any reason why he does indoor only? Or do alot of players do this?
Our Owner doesn’t care as long they come in droves to see him. ( remember the LLWS game against the Guardians when all the kids were clamoring for his Trout’s autographs ).
No when was that? 2007?
Okay, let’s differentiate. I am not talking about under the stadium with the machine. I am talking about live batting practice. The fact that Shohei does not have a “traditional” prep for the game is well known, and Maddon himself has referenced this.
No “myth busting” is necessary here. And the other part of my comment was that Shohei is not familiar with the Derby, which he was not.
The one thing I will say is that this BP routine must have changed somewhere along the line (not sure when). But Shohei USED to taking batting practice on the field. I know because media and other players talked about some of the monumental blasts he hit, including one in Colorado that went into the upper deck in right center field. This may have been 2018 since they did play there that season.
“Another thing is that Shohei does not take batting practice during the regular season, so he is not used to swinging in bunches like that. The fatigue for him would likely be more pronounced than for a player who is “used” to it”
lol
You sound like an idiot. Did you not watch the Derby?.
Shohei was clearly gassed. Are you denying that?
How would you explain Shohei’s being exhausted there? I am not claiming others players don’t get tired doing the Derby because they clearly do, IN FACT MANY PLAYERS HAVE TALKED ABOUT HOW FATIGUE PLAYS A BIG ROLL IN THE HR DERBY.
There are probably a variety of reasons for this, but the fatigue apparently effected Shohei more than it did Soto or Alonso or a couple of other players.
I think his not doing a traditional BP is probably a part of this. That is not an unreasonable conclusion to draw.
I responded to what you said, which was objectively incorrect. Batting practice indoors is still batting practice.
It is not the same. With indoor BP a player can go at as slow a pace as he likes. Not so with BP on the field. In pregame BP on the field the players go in small groups of about four or five guys. Because of this the guys currently not hitting stand around the cage and watch while waiting for their “turn.”
The hitter therefore is swinging at a decent pace so as not to make the others wait around unnecessarily. Not to mention the fact that BP on the field as a whole is time limited as the ground crew has to do field prep to get ready for the game.
I think that as well, but then he hits a bomb and runs out an infield hit right after throwing 120 pitches the night before. Crazy thing is I think he gets better next season.
I think it more likely that next season we’ll see a dropoff. This typically happens with MVP’s/ awards seasons, which it will be for Shohei. Just look at Jose Abreu this year slugging .499 compared to last season’s .619.
Odds are Shohei will not put up the kind of slugging numbers next season. But we’ll see.
He is a home run hitter and never been a high-average guy. He’s going up there hacking. He is fine.
League adjusting and throwing him low and away off the plate.
Pitchers are getting the calls off the plate too.
He’s getting shit to hit. No Trout, no Rendon. Nothing else to say. Mayfield and Goss are not “protection”.
Surveillanced the AZ D-Backs SB Nation blog about Robbie Ray who had a miserable Covid abbreviated 2020 like many other players did. Most of the Snake Pit members were happy to see the guy run outta town on a rail. The guy has been a very good SP for the most part especially considering he was just a former 12th rd pick of the Nationals and not like Dylan Bundy ( former #4 overall pick in the 2011 MLB Draft ) who inexplicably has crashed and burned for us in 2021. The D-Backs were clearly on fire sale and estate sale mode last year ( also traded Archie Bradley ) when they moved him to Toronto.
Should we take a chance on him in free agency? 🤔 🤔
We finally got to see what we got for Andrew Heaney.
I like what Perry did (and I am not a big Perry Minosian fan).
Elvis hasn’t shined but I can see potential there. Best case – maybe a 7th inning guy. Reminds me of Felix Rodgriguez of the Giants.
I like Junk. Gave up two ER in almost 4 innings. Seemed composed. I hope they give him and Packy another start to see what they could do.
After 7 years of Heaney, I’m happy with two prospects in Elvis and Junk….
yeah, 1 ER.Rengifo really fucked him for 4 UERs
I still don’t understand why Rengifo is up to the big league.
It sure does defy logic
Get Shohei back in the lead off position. He needs all the ABs he can get to maximize his position in the home run title chase.
Wow. That list of pitchers today. It’s what we’ve always said we wanted. Just take every kid who shaves out of our system and see if he drowns or swims. I’m not opposed to it, it’s just… wew, there are gonna be some clunker nights.
I actually think that it’s smart for the Angels to kind of do it as a “peer group”. All these pitchers know that they, and their friends, are coming up to see what the show looks like real fast. A lot of them are gonna see the tiger, piss themselves, and leave the jungle and that’s OK. They all get a taste, they can grow from that, it’s a shared experience with a lot less pressure on any given kid cause they’re all falling off the bike together. Same with Adell and Marsh. It’s gonna be a tough month, but it shows a commitment to actually seeing what’s on the farm and building from there and that’s good.
However it’s also proving what the pundits ( BA, MLB NW, ) have been saying about the pitching in our system ( we’re still in the 20’s with our farm system rating ) all along.
Eh. If Nate Pearson and MacKenzie Gore can suck without it meaning all that much so can Packy Naughton. We’ll see in a couple years how useless the farm is now.
My idea for today’s headline (included at end of game thread too):
RENGIFO’s BONER BIGGER THAN JUNK’S JUNK
Awesome!
That could totally be a headline for the New York Post !
If the Angels played there.
Hey you stole that headline from some other guy who posted it on today’s game thread
Ha! Yep no post game when I first posted
Good one, LOL!
well said, if Rengifo makes the play, the throw, 4 runs are off the board.
Now if we had a Hagler maybe we could’ve beat a Hearn
Marvelous!
Consistent at least.
Looks like normal sinus rhythm.
No, definitely fibrillation .
Heart looks healthy………probably just gas.
Hook up a line of Ringers lactate and some Pepto Bismol.
Dr. Nick
Adell is coming around. 9 Total Bases. Tyler was looking like a Vet in his first game. And then there is not working a count. Even Fletch needs to work on it. Jeremy Reed has his work cut out himself. And then there is playing Rengifo, he’s had a lot of chances and it does not work for him. He has the tools but he is a Brandon Wood.
Are you kidding me? David Fletcher actually got a walk in this game. Itz a murracul!
Rengifo had 2 hits and also smacked a ball 372 feet.
Everyone makes errors. We can all dislike Rengifo, but at least only be mad at him when he has a bad game, lol
Yeah those 2 hits mitigate, somewhat, that throw to first. Plus, those 2 hits helped raise his BA to 0.163, lol
Brandon Wood…. OUCH….!
That brings back some memories of what could have been.
Rengifo has the potential. Great season with the Bees. Can’t seem to put together in the big show, though.
Brandon Wood was a highly touted can’t miss prospect as opposed to Rengifo.
I remember reading about how great Brandon Wood was gonna be……….until he didn’t!
That was painful.
I thought Wood was going to be productive for a long time.
Can’t miss.
SS then 3rd.
Never happened…
Nice Day Bubba! 2 almost great catches for Gump… almost…
Indeed… he DID hit 2 HR!
he/him x 2?